My name is Ashlyn Martin and I am due to finish my Curtin Commerce degree, majoring in PR, Tourism and Event Management at the end of this semester.
The last three weeks have been very exciting, I have been lucky enough to start an internship with Telstra and the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival! Unfortunately because I work what seems like every hour of my life, I can only do 1 day per week.
My first day was in the Telstra office where I was introduced to the chaos of the CEO and other executives visiting our beautiful city. Because of this rare event, they didn't have anything planned for me to do, and no one was really available to show me the ropes. But they did give me access to their internal website (which was fantastic) and had me researching material they could use for a seminar they were holding later in the week.
Recently Telstra signed a five year contract to hold the naming rights for the Perth Fashion Festival. My supervisor at Telstra organized for me to spend some time in Fashion Festival HQ, as they want me working with the festival on Telstra's side, they thought a little experience there would be beneficial.
On my first day at the TPFF office, I felt like I was not only welcome and part of the team, but like I was actually contributing. They had me proofing their program, which launches Monday August 4th, and start writing the designer profiles which will be in the media packs during the events. I also got to work specifically on the profiles of the WA designers taking part in the event, while the PR girls will most likely go through them and edit down what I have written, the STM normally does an article on the WA designers who are showcasing at the event closer to the date, and the information they use is from us.
Yesterday was day three of my internship, and day two at TPFF. I continued to work on the designer profiles for the media kits, and did some research on possible stories surrounding the cultural program! And can I just say "OH MY GOSH!", when you're talking in the theoretical, in a safe environment such as a tutorial or lecture theater, media releases seem so easy! Everything is a possible story. In reality, it's really not as easy as that. Especially when there are other parties who are also invested in the same event. There are the designers, the department stores, the venues, the sponsors and the festival itself.
For day four of my internship they said they were going to get me to work on my first pitch to a publication. I'm having serious doubts about whether or not I am ready or able to do this. But I guess I will find out soon enough. Either way I am really happy with where I am and I am really excited to be applying theory to reality.
I am looking forward to every experience, even the failures. After all, you can't learn to fly without falling first!
I'll keep you all posted!
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